by Sophie Oak
“Get dressed, baby. I got a business to run.”
He was deeply pleased with the gorgeous pink her skin turned.
* * * *
Jesse turned back down Main Street, his prey eluding him once again.
He’d heard Patrick had been seen in Alamosa, but when he’d gone to the better motels in town, the little fucker was already gone. He’d put the word out, but the lawyer was proving to be fairly good at covering his tracks.
Jesse stopped at the red light before turning up the road that led to the shop. Cade was still there despite the coward’s best attempts at fleeing. Gemma had changed tactics on his ass, and Cade had no idea what to do. Jesse smiled a little. She was cutting Cade off at every pass.
Every day when Cade came to say good-bye to her, she hugged him and asked for just one more night.
Jesse wondered if Cade even realized they had practically moved in with her. The first night, they had lain there in the grass for a long time, staring up at the stars and then they’d gone to her bed and cuddled her, passing her back and forth, just hugging and kissing her until she’d finally fallen asleep.
And the next morning she’d gotten up and unpacked Cade’s clothes and placed them in her dresser. He’d packed up again, and she’d convinced him to stay, and the next morning Cade’s clothes had been right back in the drawer next to Jesse’s. Jesse had noticed Cade hadn’t bothered to pack again this morning. And if she’d played her cards right, Cade had probably spent a good part of the afternoon buried deep inside her, bonding with her.
Their girl was smart. And Jesse intended to protect her at all costs.
Long-Haired Roger walked out of the shop carrying Princess Two in his burly arms. A county Bronco was parked outside. Jesse cut his engine and kicked the bike into park. He removed his helmet as Roger walked up, Princess Two’s bug eyes directly on Jesse.
“Hey, been trying to get ahold of you. Nate’s in the shop talking to Cade. Seems like he’s got some information on who’s trying to hurt poor, sweet Gemma.” Roger’s head shook, a long look on his face.
Roger was sweet on Gemma since she’d come into the shop the day before. She was supposed to be there so Jesse could keep an eye on her. She’d come armed with some books, but she’d then spent the whole time organizing Roger’s office and filing his receipts, since apparently Roger didn’t believe in a filing system. Now Roger was sure Gemma walked on water, and Princess Two had given her assent by not barking Gemma’s way. In Roger’s mind, it meant Gemma was good people.
Jesse stalked into the shop, wanting more than anything to get this whole thing over and done with. He wanted this settled because until she was out of danger, he couldn’t concentrate on what he wanted to—convincing Gemma to stay.
Nate stood with Cade, his arms crossed over his chest. A short man with round glasses stood by his side. He had a smallish build. Jesse pegged him in his mid-forties, early fifties, with an intellectual bent.
Nate nodded as Jesse walked in. “Jesse, meet Paul Johnson.”
Jesse stopped in his tracks, remembering why that particular name made him want to punch someone. Paul Johnson was the asshole Cam had been looking for. The one who had made the threats against Gemma years ago. “Paul Johnson?”
Cade put a hand out. “Stay calm and listen to what the man has to say.”
When Cade was the voice of reason, Jesse figured they were all in trouble. He stared at Paul Johnson, who turned to him. The man was dressed in khaki shorts and a T-shirt proclaiming “Scientists Do It Methodically.” He started to put a hand out, but seemed to think twice about it.
“Sorry, I guess you’ve read those things I said to Miss Wells.”
“Damn straight. And you should know she belongs to me. I don’t take kindly to your threats.”
The smaller man shook his head. “I wouldn’t, either, though I think your language is very possessive. She’s a free spirit, man. We can’t own another soul any more than we can own the land and sky.”
Jesse turned to Nate, who had an amused grin on his face. “What the fuck is he trying to say?”
Nate shrugged. “I thought about calling in Nell to translate. It seems Paul here has had a change of heart. He’s given up his worldly possessions to walk the earth and do good things.”
There was an oddly peaceful look on the scientist’s face. “Karma is an amazing thing. It led me to take a look at my own soul. To take stock, so to speak. I would love to talk to Miss Wells, to make amends.”
“And you think you can do that by sending her threatening letters and boxes of freaking hearts?”
Cade sighed. “Catch up, man. Does he look like a dude who would send her a cadaver heart? This has all been one big setup.”
Setup? But why? “You think someone is trying to make it look like this dude wants to kill Gemma?”
“It looks that way,” Nate said. “Cam found him yesterday and managed to get in contact. He came right in. Seems he’s been on the road for over a year following the big music festivals from town to town. The heart in a box was sent from St. Louis.”
“But I was at Peacenick in San Francisco that week,” Paul explained. “It’s a music and healing festival.”
“Are we sure about that?” Jesse wasn’t going to be convinced because the guy looked like he wouldn’t hurt a fly. People could lie.
“Oh yeah, there are several time-stamped pictures of him at the festival. He’s easy to pick out of a crowd. He’s at least twenty years older than anyone there,” Nate explained.
“And I haven’t used a computer in months, man,” Paul said. “I’m all natural, man. This is a great town you have here. The vibes are incredible. Peace, man. This place just radiates peace.”
“It’s got the worst murder rate per capita in the country.” The last thing he needed was someone else from Gemma’s past hanging around. He needed her to think about the future.
“Really?” Paul looked around like he was expecting someone to try to murder him any minute.
Cade seemed to pick up on Jesse’s thought process. “Oh, yeah. It’s totally dangerous. We’ve even had a serial killer. Mobsters run amuck here. I heard there was a violent biker gang.”
“Don’t forget all the alien abductions,” Long-Haired Roger chimed in.
“And our women would make your toes curl.” Nate got a shit-eating grin on his face. “They like to keep a running tally of their kills. They have a club.”
It was more like a support group. Jesse had mistakenly walked in on it one time. It seemed to consist of drinking coffee, eating lemon cake, and talking through their feelings about being forced to kill in self-defense. Though he’d overheard Marie and Rachel giving tips on the best places to shoot a son of a bitch, as they called it. He’d tiptoed back out of that room right quick and prayed they didn’t notice him.
Paul’s eyes grew round. “Wow. I would not have guessed that. It seems so beautiful. Serial killers. Yeah, maybe I should go. I don’t need bad vibes. I heard there’s an alt-rock healing festival in Santa Fe. I’m thinking about spending some time there so I can study to become a yogi. I think I can heal hearts from the inside, you know?”
“So you’re not mad at Gemma anymore?” Jesse asked.
Paul’s face fell momentarily. “I signed a bad contract. I thought I was smart enough to get out of it. I wasn’t. She was smarter. She found a tiny little clause in my contract, and by playing off some of the vague language, she cost me millions, possibly billions of dollars. When I think about it, I get upset. Yeah, I get mad. But there’s not a thing I can do about it. I heard about what happened to her.”
Apparently everyone had heard. He needed to figure out a way to get that damn video down. Gemma had to hate the fact that everyone could see her lose control like that. “I’m sure that made you feel better.”
“No, it just made me sad, but it could end up being a good thing. She’s a great lawyer. Why do only the big corporations get someone like her? Why can’t the little guys have so
meone like Gemma Wells? So she pissed off her firm. Maybe she should start her own. I always thought she would make a great warrior. Maybe that sounds dumb, but there are so many people out there who need a warrior.” He shook his head. “Or a masseuse. You both seem so tightly wound. I can help with that. There’s healing in these hands.”
Nate put a hand on Paul’s shoulder. “Let’s get all the paperwork out of the way before you start healing people. Come on, Johnson. Cam should have some sort of report to make.”
They left, the door closing behind them and a silence falling.
Roger sighed. “Well, he seemed like a decent fella. Don’t much cotton to massage, though. I’m going to get some paperwork done. You boys let me know if you need anything.”
When the door closed behind Roger, Cade turned, his eyes stark. “We’re right back to square one.”
“No, we know who we’re looking for.” Patrick Welch had attempted to build himself a fall guy. He’d probably known damn well that Johnson was in the wind. But why try to set up an accident? Why not just kill her? It was an awfully complex setup for a little accident.
“Do we? I’ve thought about this. Can’t think of much else. Why does Patrick want her dead?” Cade scrubbed a hand through his hair.
“Maybe he wants her back.”
“He could have gone after her before now. And he couldn’t know she was getting involved with us. We weren’t actually involved with her when she got the first package.”
“Dear god, don’t point that out to her.” She was still arguing about the duties and expectations of being in a relationship. He was going to have to put a ring on her finger before she would acknowledge his right to protect her.
Fuck. He was going to marry Gemma Wells. He had to figure out how to keep her here because he truly believed this was the best place for her. Paul Johnson might be a weirdo, but he was right. Gemma couldn’t sit behind a desk at the station house for the rest of her life, but the crazy, high-pressure life she’d led before wasn’t right, either.
Cade took a long breath, his hands trembling a little. “You have to talk to her. I can’t seem to do it.”
“I saw her at lunchtime. She was coming in to see you. You should have talked to her then.” Jesse studied Cade. His best friend seemed even more stressed than before. Had the afternoon not gone well with Gemma?
Cade paced a little, walking back and forth from the Camaro to the work bench. “There wasn’t a whole lot of talking going on. She came in and showed me her breasts, and I pretty much just gave in.”
Then the plan had come together. He needed to check those security tapes. He would love to watch Gemma work her magic. “Then you had a good afternoon. I’m afraid I don’t see what the problem is. She told me Caleb cleared her. She’s fine. If she wants a little sex, isn’t that our job to give it to her?”
Cade stopped pacing and turned to him, his jaw set in a stubborn line. “You know I can’t do this long term.”
He didn’t want to have this conversation. He was actually really sick of the whole thing. “You talk to her.”
“I’ve tried. Man, you know how hard I’ve tried. She just turns those soft eyes up and asks me to stay.”
“And what the hell is wrong with that?”
“You know what’s wrong with that. Damn it, Jesse. I’m not good for her.”
“I’m sick of that argument, man. It’s a bullshit argument. It’s a pussy argument.”
“No, it’s not. I don’t want this. I don’t want a family. I had a family, and I fucked it up.”
“You were eight years old, Cade. You were a kid.”
“I knew what I was doing. I did it because I was a pathetic piece of shit who wanted attention, and they died because of it.” Cade’s face flushed, anger rising. “And I damn straight knew what I was doing when it came to Nancy. It doesn’t bother you? We were out partying while she was dying.”
Cade had the most fucked-up sense of guilt. It dragged him down every day. Jesse felt it necessary to point out a few of life’s brutal truths. “I loved Nan. She was the mother I wished I’d had, but she was stubborn and too proud for her own good.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
He acted like she was a saint and he was the devil who’d led her to her death. Cade really liked to rewrite history. “We called her every other day. You think I don’t remember? Even when we were on the road, you would make us pull over to call her. We had to buy minutes every week because you would gab for hours. You kept in touch. I kept in touch. And she spent all her time talking about the neighborhood and what television shows she was watching, and not once did she mention she’d lost every dime she had in a scam and was in a rat-infested nursing home.”
“I would have known if I’d stayed with her.”
“We were adults. Were we supposed to live with our foster mother forever?”
“We were supposed to take care of her.”
“She didn’t let us, man. You aren’t responsible for Nan any more than you were the reason your parents and your sister died.”
Cade turned, his face shutting down. “You can’t understand.”
He was also sick of that fucking argument. He could feel his blood pressure take a leap. “You think you had it bad? My old man was killed in prison. I never met him. Probably a good thing since he was up for killing a man in a bar brawl. My mother was a trailer park prostitute whose life took a nosedive—yeah, there’s a place downhill from trailer park prostitute—when she got hooked on meth. I lived on the fucking street for years after she tried to sell my ten-year-old body to a john one night so she could get high. I ran. I kept running until I fucking found something good, so don’t tell me I don’t know how bad the world can get.”
There was a startled intake of breath from the vicinity of the door, and Jesse’s heart plunged to his feet. Gemma stood there with her friend, Naomi. She’d heard every word he’d said. He was honest, but he’d never intended to be that honest with her. His childhood had been a brutal walk on the razor’s edge. By the time he’d entered kindergarten, he knew more about survival than most people had to learn in a lifetime, and he didn’t want Gemma to see that part of him.
She stood there, stark white, and he wondered if she would just turn and run.
Cade’s mouth hung open. “Gemma, just because his parents had trouble doesn’t mean he does. He’s the straightest arrow I know.”
“Shut up,” she said in that commanding tone he was sure she’d used in many a court of law. She walked straight up to Jesse. “Am I the good thing? Am I the thing that stopped you from running?”
She got to him. If she was fucking with him, fooling around with his dumbass mechanic heart, he just might lie down and die. But he was brave enough to tell her the truth. He wouldn’t hide from it. He knew how shitty the world was, had seen it with his own eyes. And nothing changed unless a man willed it. He was going to will Gemma Wells into loving him. “Yes. I got nothing to run from, darlin’. I love you.”
He waited for her to bite that bottom lip and explain all the reasons why they couldn’t work out long term. She was way past smart, into the brilliant territory, and he rebuilt carburetors. She had a whole heart and he shared one with his pussy-ass best friend. She was whole, and he never would be if she told him no.
She walked straight into his arms, hugging him tighter than he’d ever been held. “Be sure, Jesse McCann. You be sure.”
He buried his head in her hair, holding her so close. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
She held him, her face buried in his neck. A long moment passed before she turned and reached out. “Cade?”
But he was gone. The door shut behind him. Jesse heard the purr of an engine starting and held Gemma tighter.
He might not have a whole heart, but what he had was hers. He had to pray it would be enough.
Chapter Sixteen
Gemma sighed with pleasure as Jesse thrust inside. She wrapped her legs aroun
d him, glorying in the feel of his cock sliding over and over that magnificent spot deep inside her body. She clutched him, needing to know he was close. She couldn’t get enough of this. Years and years she’d viewed sex as something to get through. It was expected when she was someone’s girlfriend.
This wasn’t a task to be completed. This was something she needed like her next breath.
“That’s right, baby. Give it up. I want to feel you come all over my cock.” Jesse lifted up, holding himself on his arms as his hips moved in a rough rhythm. She stared up at him, loving the way he looked. He was gorgeous and masculine, with his hair all askew and that beard coming in across his face. His shoulders bunched into tight muscles. And all that masculine beauty was focused on her.
Everything inside Gemma coiled and waited, spiraling up and up. She wanted to make the moment last. She didn’t want to come down. She wanted to stay right here on the precipice with him.
But he was too good for that. He found her hot spot and his cock worked it, hitting it again and again while his hips swiveled, grinding on her clit. She’d only held out this long because he’d made her come twice before, licking her pussy until she’d screamed out his name.
She let go, her whole body shuddering as pleasure washed over her.
“That’s what I need.” Jesse lost his rhythm and started fucking her like a desperate man.
She loved watching him. His face contorted, and she was sure he was hers in that one moment, only hers.
He stiffened and jerked, giving up his cum before he let himself rest down on her body.
Gemma held him, her hands soothing the muscles of his back. She’d thought Cade was hers, too. But he was gone.
Jesse’s head came up, his eyes dark in the twilight. He’d left the curtains open, allowing the late-afternoon light in, but it was rapidly moving to night. “Baby, he’s going to come back.”
She wasn’t so sure. She’d hated the fact that they were fighting over her. “What happened to his parents?”
Jesse hesitated and then with a reluctant kiss to the tip of her nose, rolled off her. He didn’t go far, just moved to the side and put a possessive hand on her belly. “You know they died, right?”